I did that very thing for a number of years, and while the experience was a whole ‘nother level of terror and loathing, the scope of information dovetailed somewhat neatly with the study of cultural, political and economic imperialism that I engaged in during my A-list undergraduate education.
I don’t know that my experience is common, but I don’t see it at all as a waste. Rather, the end result is significant liberation from questions that have dogged me my entire adult life. It’s liberation from getting one’s energy sucked by the illusory belief that common political or topical discourse is at all meaningful or significant beyond the satisfaction of one’s own ego. In my case, it’a also led me to a taste of capital E Enlightenment. I’m not sucking the marrow of life, but I am much more at peace and I am cognizant of the difference between the world we imagine from our ego and the flow of life and consciousness that identification with the ego often prevents us from seeing. Colloquially, it’s trippy and fantastic, and for my journey I wouldn’t have it any other way, because it relates so strongly to questions I have carried without resolution for far too long. I’m glad I had the time I did to throw myself into the abyss of this stuff, because I think the intensity of the experience was paramount to making out the other side.
That being said, @Duchess_III, it doesn’t have to be your experience. Your slice of existence is meant to be different, I’m sure. You might even sympathize with my since worn out incredulity and concern that the population at large contributes to tragedies and outrages of this nature out of ignorance, willful or otherwise.
Addendum: That website is shit, by the way. There are a few that are much better. Well, it’s alright, I suppose. I thought it was worse.